| This dissertation compares four English versions of Laotzu. In doing so, it examines some large pitfalls and limitations encountered and too often unsuccessfully overcome in translation in general. Through identifying such stumbling blocks, then synthesizing successful existing methodologies, it proposes a new theoretical framework that may be applied to a greater field of translation.The 21st century is proving to be an era of greater contact and intermingling between Chinese and Western cultures than ever before, with intensified influence each has upon the other. Western influences abound in modern China. Those influences can be plainly seen in most any part of society and culture you can think of. And likewise, many original thoughts created during the five-thousand-year history of Chinese civilization, which is broad and deep, has drawn immense attention from the Western world.Such widespread intermingling proves a contention overwhelmingly held that different cultures and civilizations have things of great value and interest to each other. Translation, then, is the bridge between these cultures. The better the translation, the better the cross-cultural understanding and the greater potential effect one culture may have on another.The translation of great literary works makes it possible for people all over the world to share the culture and civilization of mankind, while playing an important role in spreading mankind's wisdom in literature. Therefore, the translation of Chinese classics is of great importance.Translation study is composed of criticism, theory and history. Criticism is indispensable to translation studies. It is not only a medium to bridge theories and practices, but also acts as a medium to bridge practices and social acceptability. Translation criticism is the holistic understanding and evaluation of translators, translated works and the process of translation. Translation is analyzed from its social, cultural and historical natures, taking into account the differing cultural backgrounds, language change, creativity and other aspects including methods, techniques, uses and influences. Translation criticism has a number of functions which are reflected in analyzing target texts, constructing translation theories and guiding practices. It enables people to appreciate the target language texts better and understand more clearly the society, culture and history, from which the work is translated, as well as the translation objective, philosophy and methods. In short, translation criticism plays an active role in promoting cross-cultural exchange and the development of translation.Translation criticism has no stable method or criteria, therefore an open principle should be abided by. Establishing a systematic and rational framework of literary translation criticism is a proven model to evaluate the target language texts. It is also necessary and significant to establish an effective system to evaluate the results of translation. An effective criticism system enriches literary translation theory while guiding practical translation.So far, the criticism on the translation of Chinese classics has fallen short of accurate portrayal. There are several prominent reasons for this, which will be introduced and gone over later on in this dissertation. It is the aim of this dissertation to identify existing limitations in the translation of Chinese classics; to account for them by making clear their source and reason for being, and to suggest how they may be overcome in future translation work, so as to raise the level of accuracy for translation in general.Confucianism and Taoism belong to the native Chinese culture. They are the earliest and most important two schools of thought in China. For over two millennia, they have shaped the governance of China, and the lives of its people, to a great extent. Since the mid and late 1980s, people began to think more highly of Taoism's position in the history of Chinese philosophy and culture. There is a dramatic upsurge in the interest of philosophical insights of Taoism. Under current cultural circumstances, the philosophy of the Taoist school seems more appealing to Westerners. Thus, the overwhelming importance of Laotzu is well established.I chose the translation of Chinese classics because of its important position as mentioned above, my personal interests and the fact that the previous studies on the English translation of Chinese classics have left much room for improvements. With the researchers' descriptions and analyzes being unsystematic, the past explorations are far from sufficient. This dissertation will tackle the same matter with fresh eyes, from a more comprehensive perspective, in order that such inadequacies may be overcome. Laotzu is one of the most widely translated Chinese classics. In English alone, there are over a hundred versions. In order to set up a theoretical and experiential basis for my study, it is necessary to have a review of the achievements and experiences in the studies and translations of Laotzu at home and abroad.In China, since Laotzu came out, the scholars of the past dynasties felt compelled to study it continuously. There are too many related books to estimate the exact number. Chen Guying has cited 262 reference books in his bibliography of the Commentary and Evaluation of Laotzu. Past studies of Laotzu can be generalized into two categories. One focused on the texts problems and the explanations of words, and the other attached importance to the revealing of the implied meaning in the book from different perspectives. The first translation of Laotzu was more than 1350 years ago, in the Tang Dynasty, translated into Sanskrit by Xuan Zang and Cheng Xuanying. According to the existing data, Hu Tzeling was the first Chinese to translate Laotzu into English. His translation was published in 1936. Afterwards, English translations of Laotzu were continuously conducted, though what is worth mentioning most is Wang Rongpei and William Puffenberger's translation published in 1991, which was based on the silk manuscripts unearthed from Han (206 b.c-a.d. 220) Tomb at Ma-wang-tui in 1973.The thoughts of Laotzu not only greatly influenced the Chinese way of thinking, but also remarkably influenced Japanese and Western people. Laotzu was spread to Japan in the Sui Dynasty (581-618). During the 20th century, Japanese scholars showed their considerable enthusiasm for Laotzu, publishing approximately a hundred monographs. Laotzu came to the Western world in the 18th century. After the 1950s, it was translated into Dutch, Hungarian, Romanian, Spanish and Greek, as they were published one after another in non-English speaking countries. In English speaking countries, there are already over a hundred versions. The history of Laotzu being translated in English speaking countries is divided into three periods. The first period refers to Christianization between the 18th century and the 19th century. The second period refers to Western Adaptation from 1915 to the 1970s. The third period refers to the plural interpretations since the late 1970s to the current day. In 1884, the earliest English version translated by Balfour was published in London. After the silk manuscripts were discovered, various English translations based on them were conducted. The most popular versions were translated by D.C.Lau, Robert.GHenricks and Victor.H.Mair.Laotzu, also known as Tao Te Ching, was the first integrated philosophical work in Chinese history. It occupied a decisive position in China for its profound philosophic thoughts have greatly influenced the Chinese way of thinking, philosophy, culture, religion, politics, economics, education and society. Written approximately 2500 years ago, the five-thousand-character book consists of 81 chapters, divided into two volumes, the Tao Ching (chaps 1-37) and the Te Ching (chaps 38-81). Being regarded as an outstanding representative of Chinese classics and a philosophical poem, the short book is not only deep in philosophy and rich in meaning, but also expressive and concise in language, which makes Laotzu an unparalleled miraculous work. It was written in a poetic style based on metaphors and an expressive form of aphorisms and appears to be suggestive, polysemous and somewhat ambiguous rather than articulate.To edit and publish a piece of ancient literature which has multiple and different texts, we should choose the text that is the closest to the features of the original work and least interpolated. This is the basic principle of the science of edition. To translate a piece of ancient literature, we should also follow the same principle. The Shi Chuan edition (the edition handed down through generations) has various versions of the texts. There has been a multitude of copies and reprints of the Shi Chuan edition, in consequence there are missing, redundant, misprinted, changed and transposed words. Due to the manipulation, it has lost certain features of the original text. Laotzu, as it was copied onto silk, was unearthed from Han Tomb in 1973. It remains to be a living fossil which can be used to study the development of the history of ancient writings. Following the discovery of the Silk edition, important headways have been made in textual studies of this book. Though there exists some similar unavoidable obstacles in the understanding of it as that of the Shi Chuan edition, the Silk edition has many more original features. The Bamboo edition, unearthed from the Chu [a state during the Warring States Period (403 b.c-221 b.c)] Tomb at Guodian in 1993 and officially promulgated in 1998, dates back even earlier than the Silk edition. The Bamboo edition has high academic value, but is far less rich in content compared to the Silk edition. Therefore, the Silk edition is irreplaceable. Since the Silk edition dates back earlier than the Shi Chuan edition and has many more original features, we should choose it as the original text, while referring to the Shi Chuan edition, which is in conformity with the basic principle of the science of edition. In accordance with this principle, D.C.Lau's, Robert.GHenricks', Victor.H.Mair's and Wang Rongpei and William Puffenberger's versions are the most successful as being based on the Silk edition. This thesis will compare and contrast these four versions comprehensively.D.CLau's translation of Tao Te Ching, published by The Chinese University Press (Hong Kong) in 1982, is considered by many scholars to be one of the most expertly translated English versions in print. It is a bilingual edition, divided into two parts: the unchanged 1963 translation of the Wang Pi text formed Part One of the book, and the revised 1982 translation of the Ma-wang-tui text formed Part Two. D.C.Lau tried to keep the beauty in form and sound of the original text. Generally speaking, this version is faithful and beautiful. However, sometimes, to avoid inflexibility, D.C.Lau also made some changes of the sentence structure and manner of the original text. The translator mainly adopted naturalization which is acceptable to native English readers.Robert G Henricks' translation Lao-tzu Te-tao ching: A New Translation Based on the Recently Discovered Ma-wang-tui Texts was published by Ballantine Books in 1989. This bilingual edition has preface and introduction for lay readers. The first part of the main body is a brand-new translation of Laotzu based on the Silk edition, catering to general readers. The translation with the original text, commentary and notes was republished in part two, which caters for the need of specialized readers. There is a long piece of comments and notes at the end of each chapter, which is a specific feature of this version. It enables readers to appreciate and accept the original text better. Robert G Henricks mainly adopted literal translation and tried to avoid amplification. He converted the original poetic style into prosaic style. As for certain parts, the translator's understanding is different from others'. And for some controversial parts, Robert G Henricks referred to the Shi Chuan edition.Victor H. Mair's translation Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way was published by Bantam Books in 1990. The form of this version is different from others'. In order to reflect the language structure of ancient Chinese, the translator made an elaborate design of the text layout. The layout of chapters faithfully followed that of the Silk edition unearthed from Ma-wang-tui. Victor H. Mair mainly adopted literal translation and tried to keep the features of the original text. He also used free translation and omission which shows his thorough mastery of the original text. Generally speaking, this version is accurate and smooth in expression and transplanted the original style.Wang Rongpei and William Puffenberger's translation Laotse was published by Liaoning University Press in 1991. This bilingual translation was aimed at challenging and surpassing old versions. Wang Rongpei wrote in his preface that he regarded the translation of such an ancient philosophical book as a process of deciphering and expressing. It has no long piece of introduction or comments or notes. Wang Rongpei tried to translate the ancient Chinese of Laotzu into modern English, which is easier to understand. He advocated free translation but objected to literal translation. Between naturalization and alienation, he chose the latter. Being a native Chinese speaker, Wang Rongpei had the advantage of producing a version more accurate and truthful. This translation is concise in wording, with lines being always consistent with one another and commonsensible mistakes seldom found.Since Chinese classics have great spatial and temporal distance from the present day, they posed many difficulties for translators to overcome. To translate Laotzu, the first difficulty is how to tackle the textual problem of the original text. The complexity of the texts greatly increased the difficulty of translation. Therefore, a reasonable comprehension of the original must be the first step of creating a successful translation of this great book.The second difficulty is how to reproduce the content of the original text. Laotzu is written in ancient Chinese, being not very precise, which is quite different from Modern Chinese. Due to the cultural differences between Chinese and English, the terms of philosophy, phonetic loan characters as well as polysemous words in Laotzu become the obstacles that translators must overcome. The specific translation methods are mainly naturalization and alienation (transliteration plus notes).The third difficulty is how to reshape the form of the original text. One can find each chapter of Laotzu contains some cases of figures of speech. This not only demonstrates some old-style rhetoric devices, but also serves to make the philosophical conception more vivid. My thesis analyzes the translation of the outstanding figures of speech adopted in Laotzu: Parallelism, Antithesis and Chiasmus. Because Chinese and English have different language structures, the translation of figures of speech becomes another difficult and important point. We can adopt literal translation or free translation or make compensation according to different situations.The fourth difficulty is how to transplant the style of the original text and take account of readers' acceptability at the same time. This is also a difficult and important point. Style is not only closely connected with the way of thinking and the mode of speech, but also closely connected with a writer's artistic personality and aesthetic pursuit. Laotzu's style is very unique in Chinese classics. It was written in an ambiguous and contradictory manner. It's not easy for translators to reproduce the content, reshape the form, meanwhile, to transplant the original text.Over the history of translation study at home and abroad, there exist two tendencies in traditional translation criticism. One is intuition mode: the observers make a value judgement by only using their intuition when reading the target text, having no sufficient evidence to comment on the text. The resulting consequence is only having a glance at the forest instead of seeing individual trees. The other is the sentence mode, by which the critic focuses on the equivalence or loss of sentences but ignores the general elements. The resulting consequence is only seeing trees instead of having a bird's-eye view over the forest.From the retrospective, we can find that among studies on translation criticism in China during recent years, there are research projects conducted from content, form or style dimension respectively or from two of three dimensions. It is still a vacancy to study translation criticism from three dimensions holistically. Meanwhile, it is advocated to have a multidimensional principle. The study herein tries to integrate three dimensions to establish a framework and presents a "panorama" view for translation criticism.I put forward a theoretical framework of translation studies, encompassing three dimensions "content", "form", and "style", aiming at constructing a comprehensive evaluation system. The mode of the three-dimension study presents a "panorama" view for literary translation criticism. It is rational and operational. With the integration of "content", "form", and "style", the target text can be studied and evaluated objectively. In this dissertation, with the three-dimension system and case examples, four English versions of Laotzu are analyzed comprehensively to illustrate the social, cultural and linguistic differences and their influences on translators' choices. Through this, I demonstrate the validity, operationality and feasibility of my theory system. This dissertation provides a new perspective on comparative studies. That is the significance of the study which is also a further development to the theory of translation criticism.This dissertation achieves its end primarily through the intense study and evaluation of the four most successful translated versions of the Silk edition at both macro and micro levels. The four different versions are compared and evaluated according to the following points and principles:1. How well the translator seems to have understood, captured and recreated the meaning of the original content. That is, how faithful the translation is to the actual content of the original Silk edition.2. How faithful the translated version remains to the form of the original.3. How much of the original style is represented in the translated version.This dissertation is organized with the scientific study method of problems finding, analyzing and solving. Eight chapters of the dissertation are summarized below.The introduction in chapter 1 tells influencing causes, aim and methods and structure of the dissertation. Chapter 2 is a review of the experiences and achievements in the studies and translations of Laotzu, at home and abroad. Chapter 3 studies text problems of Laotzu and explains why I chose four versions based on the Silk edition, while giving a brief introduction of four versions. Chapter 4 establishes and interprets an objective theoretical framework of translation studies, encompassing three dimensions, "content", "form", and "style", verifying the rationality and feasibility of the system. In chapters 5, 6, and 7, I apply the three-dimension framework in the comparative study on four versions of Laotzu. From the content, form and style perspectives, I explore their different outlooks and characteristics by comparing and contrasting with the use of examples throughout. By the analysis of social, cultural, linguistic and ideological differences, main problems encountered by both Chinese and Western translators are discussed, with the translators' tendency in choosing words, sentence structure and style for target texts being reflected and translators' philosophies and methods being inferred. Chapter 8 draws a conclusion and indicates the further study of the topic in the future.My study covers the general evaluation of the following aspects: the evaluation of translation, the interpretation of translation phenomena, the analyzes of the target text, and the methods and techniques used. I don't simply evaluate target texts "correct" or "wrong", even though some of them are not fully equivalent or faithful to the source text. In the translation of this classic, the translators make their decisions out of many reasons. The description of these factors and the subsequent differences among four versions will be of great value to translation studies. While elucidating how the translation of Laotzu may be more beneficially done in the future, it also creates a solid framework that may be applied to any other work to be translated.
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